Health Watch: New catheter helps restore blood flow quicker

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Bashir Endovascular catheter is named after Dr. Rayiz Bashir, who designed it.

"This 50-centimeter blood clot breaks loose and travels to the lung and gets packed into a 10-centimeter long blood vessel," Bashir said.

When inserted into a blood vessel, the device expands, helping dissolve clots that stop blood flow to the heart.

"The right side of our heart is not built to deal with that massive sudden occlusion of the coronary artery," says CTEPH specialist William Auger, MD.

For years, doctors used small catheters to dissolve a clot. But the Bashir Endovascular catheter expands into six tiny catheters to both open the clot and delivers anti-coagulants.

"What I wanted to do is some way develop a channel in the middle of the clot, bring the patient's own clot-dissolving chemicals into the clot," Bashir said.

Then, the Bashir catheter quickly delivers anti-coagulants by deploying a kind of spinning basket loaded with medications.

"The basket expands in a spiral fashion," Bashir said. "And when it does, that spiral twists and creates a big channel in the middle of the clot."

It's a first-of-it's kind treatment option designed to restore blood flow-faster than ever.